Fuentebella poll victory affirmed

The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has upheld the victory in the May 2004 election of Camarines Sur third district Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella as it dismissed the electoral protest filed by his rival.

In its May 16 ruling, the tribunal junked the protest of Teodoro Cruz Jr., former chairman of the Light Rail Transit Authority, after a recount and revision showed that Fuentebella’s margin of 6,789 votes was actually short of 119 votes.

The HRET, which handles election protests against House members, also rejected 289 votes for Cruz and nullified 275 votes credited to Fuentebella after a scrutiny of questionable ballots and votes.

Cruz had complained that all the votes cast for Cruz should have been credited to him after two other candidates, both also surnamed Cruz, did not make it to the final list of candidates.